Visualisation of renal arteries using Time-SLIP and contrast-enhanced MR angiography technique
The purpose of this study was to compare unenhanced MR angiography with contrast-enhanced MR angiography and visualisation of renal arteries with its segment branches using both techniques. We performed renal MRA on 22 patients using a 1.5T MRI unit. For renal MRA, a three dimensional balanced type steady-state free precession (SSFP) sequence (Time-SLIP, Canon) was used with respiratory gating and conventional CE-MRA sequnce (upisati tačan naziv). For analysis, two radiologists independently evaluated the visual quality of the axial images and axial maximum intensity projection images (MIP) of Time SLIP and CE MRA. Visualisation of aorta and main stem of the renal arteries were satisfactory on both techniques, and there was no statistically significant difference. The score of segmental renal artery appeared superior with Time-SLIP and showed a statistically significant difference (P<0.05). Visualisation of segmental renal arteries, interlobar renal arteries and kidneys parenchyma was significantly superiorwith Time-SLIP technique. We compared visualisation of renal arteries and its branches using unenhanced MRA, Time-SLIP, in comparison with contrast-enhanced MRA. Although it is slightly time-consuming and its clinical utility is necessary to further investigate, unenhanced MRA provides superior visualization of peripheral branches even in this study. Further improvement of the technique would make it even more sensitive in detecting small vessel abnormalities and it is promising for clinical use.